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November 11, 2009

Five Freaking Lives to Live!

I was trying to hold off to see how this played out, but clearly this needs to be addressed immediately, albeit briefly. Remember how my last post was pretty much a plausibility rant? I take it back. I apologize, show. I was foolish. Dear, dear show, I did not realize how awesome implausibility could be. Just utterly, utterly awesome.

So uh... it's hard to figure out where to start, but let's go with the logical place:

We start with Viki coming across Nash's empty grave, which, let's face it, falls pretty high up with the highest-up echelon of Friday cliffhangers, yes? But it didn't stop there. Because then:

Awww, Jess is so happy. Her dead husband came back to life! Now, I do question why she's smiling here -- while Nash never did have spectacular hair, one could already tell that something here was... awry. But that didn't take long:

I mean this is not the receding hairline she so fondly remembers. And then? Really, one of the greatest moments in daytime history:

I know. I know! Would you like some more?

I mean... I could give you more, because they showed it repeatedly. Over and over again. All week long, so far. But I'm not going to just keep throwing these at you without giving you a chance to react:

Okay, but seriously, that was awesome, right? It would've actually been pretty scary-looking had it been in shadows and they definitely undermined any of its seriousness by showing it, repeatedly, in full light (for three straight days so far). But I still love it. Love it. I could not stop smiling. I still can't.

But how could I possibly stop smiling when the whole point was to lead up to:

Mitch friggin' Laurence, back from the dead. Again. If my count is correct, he is on his fifth life, and I couldn't be happier. Not to mention the fact that I've always said (seriously, ask anyone) that they really do not use enough sickles in soap operas:

I do so adore him. After almost 25 years, he still gives me chills -- and let's face it, in more ways than one. The silver hair is quite becoming, is it not? Mitch Laurence makes Spencer Truman look like an Eagle Scout. Even his complete throwaway explanation for rising from the dead is pretty irrelevant: the man is pure evil, he cannot die. He is the Michael Myers of the 2 o'clock EST hour. (Even my DVR described the episode as Jessica, Natalie, and Jared coming face-to-face with The Devil.)

Naturally, as a counter-balance, we had Rex's reaction to finding out that his father is Mitch Laurence, the Living Personification of Evil:

I'm pretty sure he then made a few other Scooby Doo faces and said, "Zoinks!" a few times, and then focused entirely on being exasperated with Roxie. Because that's what he should focus on, now that he's learned he's the son of the devil.

Mitch is going to be so disappointed. He expects better from his children. After all, as Jessica said, "Look at what he did to Nash!"

Comments

I know! I've always loved that all the "supervillains" for the other soaps tend to be either crime bosses or ruthless businesspeople, while OLTL gets a cult leader!

Now I admit I'm a little disappointed because I think it's a bit much that even Mitch would inflict his daughter with the sight of her husband's thoroughly decayed corpse (but, hey, talk about tough love!) but, yeah, I got chills too when Mitch grinned and growled, "I have risen." Nobody can do sleazy and menacing like Roscoe Bern.

I really hope this heads back into all the hints about there being at least one more big Lord family secret and Dorian's suggestion that the Victor Lord that showed up in 2003 was an impostor, instead of what the ads have been hinting at: John McBain versus Mitch Lawrence *yawn*.

Come on, Vicki, Dorian, and the Buchanans can handle Mitch; send McBain to where he's actually needed, Port Charles! He can take out the Puppies and Fireworks Mob with one hand behind his back in one day, with enough time left over to sleep with and impregnate Elizabeth Webber.

Unsurprisingly, the weak spot of this story is JPL's horrible "acting". There was NO REASON to make him Mitch's son. Mitch would probably never have a child like that anyway, a howler monkey with a brain the size of a pea. And his reaction says it all -- he doesn't care about Mitch or about who Mitch is. It's a joke to him. This is sitcom acting, and not even good sitcom acting. What's Happening Now? was on a higher level.

The best part of the Mitch scenes was when Natalie and Jared were looking at each other through the window, and Natalie ran to him :(

"I'm pretty sure he then made a few other Scooby Doo faces and said, "Zoinks!" a few times, and then focused entirely on being exasperated with Roxie. "

LOL Couldn't have said it better. Leave it to JPL for most under/over exaggerated facial response/guestures/acting at a time like that in the storyline! What has happened to him!?

LOVE that they went with Mitch instead of Spencer as the rumors initially suggested. The man plays one great villain. And in spite of seeing the promos for his grand entrance, he still gave me chills when he appeared with "I have risen!"

LOVE LOVE this show in spite of its eccentricities and occasionally missing the mark--definitely one of the better soaps. I can rightfully say this after being a former days watcher in the Marlena's possession days and a long-time GH watcher until more recently when Guza singlehandedly killed the show. Rarely a dull moment on Carlivati's OLTL!

The screencap of Awesome!Stoic!Brody after all the over the top shrieking 'caps just made the post Art.

I have HUGE problems with some of OLTL but the Mitch reveal has been pretty incredible. I've taken to calling Mitch 'Rasputin Voldemort' because, clearly, the man can't die! Todd killed him three times over last time before he became the incompetent schmuk he is now and Mitch STILL managed to get out of it!

The rotting corpse reveal with Viki finding the open coffin and Jessica running to the greenhouse with the creepy door in the creepy dim light in the creepy distance and then creeping up on the body was so straight out of 'Psycho' it was brilliant.

I haven't even bothered to watch the stuff with Rex. What's the point? The screencaps say it all. I suppose it's too much to ask that Mitch just scythe Rex when they meet and have done with it?

Dandesun, glad you enjoyed the reaction shots! Immediately after posting this, of course, I quite regretted the obvious ommission on my part -- why oh why did I not put a Dr. Greg screencap in there?? Ah well, hindsight. And definitely... that door, that greenhouse, the whole sequence: soapy gold. And "Rasputin Voldemort" - I love it!

And seriously, they gave JPL the moment of a soap actor's lifetime. His character discovers he is the biological son of the one of the most evil legacy characters in the history of soaps. He botched it so badly. So badly. On the other hand John Brotherton, who I normally really only enjoy in sweet or comic moments, did the best dramatic work of his run yesterday, easily. Shame.

V, don't forget since he emerged from the coma, Mitch has been livin' large on an organic farming commune(!). Maybe he got the lovely tan there?

Sometimes I picture that writers' room filled with high-fives and empty bottles of margarita mix.

OMG!! I have not looked at OLTL in quite sometime but I can not believe they went there with decaying Nash. :-O I wish I had seen that. BRILLIANT! Why brilliant? Because I DESPISED Nash. I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad when they killed that character off. Also Dirk you are so dead on, Roscoe Born is wicked sexy INDEED. I have like him since his days of playing Joe Novak on Ryan's Hope. Wonderful actor. Wonderful!

Louise - totally agree with your post & your comment on John Brothertons performance...he did a great job. As for JPL, is it just me or is he getting worse? Roscoe Born is awesome as Mitch - I've watched for 25+ years - he always rocks, no matter how unbelievable the story line. A little surprised at decaying corpse - that was really OTT, eve for OLTL!

Part of me is sad that Mitch's arrival resulted in Jared's death. He is actually dying, right? It's a shame; I really loved him and Natalie. She finally had a man who really appreciated her. And JB is pretty decent; he's had some troublesome moments but he always sold Jared being in love with Natalie.

But then it's Mitch Laurence back in Llanview wreaking havoc. I hope he doesn't stay too, too long (just a few months); such villany (and scary-good acting by RB as a cult leader) is best appreciated over limited times. I'm always happy to see what creative way he "dies" and await his return.

rex's face is hilarious!
maybe jpl rehearses all of his lines with his girlfriend ff. i actually started watching oltl (as a long time days fan) because of ff but her acting seems to have gotten worse somehow.

as a relatively new viewer, i am excited to see mitch in action! i honestly believe it would have had more impact if they didn't show the commercial broadcasting his return every commercial break the week before he actually appeared....

Other than that, as disappointed as Mitch will be of his 'son' I'm anxiously waiting to see what his relationship will be with his grandson. Shane can be obnoxious and whining and after the hell JPL and FF put us viewers through as Rex and Gigi, they deserve anything Shane and Mitch will throw at them.